"Tristan!"

Selena burst through the door in a panic, then stopped dead when she saw Tristan unconscious on the bed.

Her eyes snapped to me.

"What happened to him? Did you do this?"

I held up the bone whistle.

"He was hurt and lying on the side of the road. I'm the one who saved him." I paused. "And I'm the one who called all of you here."

She lunged for the whistle. I stepped aside and let her grab at nothing.

"How do you even know what that does? Give it back. You're a commoner. You have no business touching anything that belongs to Tristan."

I knew what the whistle did because in another lifetime, Tristan had told me himself.

By that point, I'd already regressed forty-seven times, and each life had lasted a little longer than the one before. He'd said he wanted to repay me for saving him, so he'd brought me to his estate and announced to everyone that he intended to make me his consort.

Gold and jewels had poured into my room like water. He'd walked me through every corner of the estate and introduced me to each member of his household staff by name. Then he'd given me the bone whistle and told me it would summon his private guards and keep me safe.

All of the capital had praised him for it. His reputation had never been higher, and every noble girl who wanted to marry him had learned to hate me for it.

One day, I'd gone up to the mountain to pray for him at the shrine. Selena had ambushed me on the way. By the time she was done, I was pinned to a rack, my body covered in cuts and welts from her instruments.

The comments had scrolled across my vision and given me something to hold onto.

[Just hold on a little longer. You already blew the whistle. He'll hear it and rush over to save you.]

[I've been waiting for this scene forever! He's going to drop in out of nowhere, scoop her up with one arm, and make that awful woman pay. I can't wait!]

I held on for a long time that day, long enough that I'd nearly bled out completely.

Tristan never came.

When I regressed again, I set down the medicine bowl and yanked the bone whistle from his neck before I'd even caught my breath. The sound rang out, familiar and sharp, and his people arrived within two hours.

That was when I finally understood. It wasn't a problem with the whistle.

In his hands, it was protection. In mine, it was a death sentence. The more affection Tristan showed me in front of others, the faster I died, and the worse it was each time.

But he owed me his life. So why did he hate me so much?

Caleb's voice cut through my thoughts. 'Natalie, tell Selena you stole the whistle. Let her have us arrested for theft. It's the only way we stay alive longer.'

I came back to the present. The comments were still rolling.

[Aren't you the Divine Healer's apprentice? Wake him up already! Once he's on his feet he'll have your back, and he'll make that horrible woman answer for everything she's done!]

As if in response to the commenters' will, Tristan stirred on the bed and opened his eyes.

The head guard, Adam Carter, dropped to his knees.

"Master."

Tristan turned his head and looked at me. He raised one weak finger in my direction.

"She knows medicine. Bring her."

Then he was out again.

I stood there for a moment, genuinely caught off guard.

In every single one of my previous lives, Tristan had gotten to safety first and sent for me afterward. Not once had he ever asked me to come with him directly.

Would I finally escape death in this life?

I sent a letter to my father and brother through a neighbor. They were still working at the government office and couldn't come themselves. So I tucked Caleb against my side and joined Tristan's group on the road back to the capital.

I'd tried leaving Caleb with them once before, thinking I could move faster and look for answers on my own. It hadn't worked. The moment I was gone, he refused to eat and cried until he made himself sick. Then he'd slipped past the servants and crawled out of the house to find me.

By the time my father and brother tracked him down, a wolf had already gotten to him.

In that life, my family's deaths were even more inexplicable. Tristan sent his private guards to finish us off.

I never left Caleb behind again after that.

The wind in December cut straight to the bone. Caleb and I sat huddled in a drafty old carriage that seemed to let in air from every direction.

I knew it was deliberate. Selena had arranged it on purpose. She couldn't stand any woman getting near Tristan, and I'd touched his bone whistle. As far as she was concerned, I'd crossed a line.

True to every lifetime before this one, she didn't wait long to come looking for trouble.

"Natalie, why isn't Tristan awake yet? What did you do to him?"

I kept my eyes down and said nothing. I didn't want her to see the hatred in them. I just focused on rubbing Caleb's hands and feet, which had gone bluish from the cold.

"Don't think just because Tristan said to bring you along, I won't deal with you myself."

Then her gaze dropped to Caleb, and something ugly moved across her face.

"Tristan's lying there unconscious, and this little brat gets to sleep just fine?"

She shot her hand out and grabbed Caleb by the throat. He jolted awake, gasping, and burst into tears.

"Don't blame me, little one," she said, her voice sweet and poisonous. "Blame your sister. She's the greedy one. Thought she could waltz into the capital and live well, and drag a useless little burden like you along with her..."

I looked at Selena, my voice flat and cold.

"Let go. If Caleb dies, you won't survive it either."

She lifted her chin and stared me down.

"He's just a child. If I want to choke the life out of him, I will. There are people who'll cover for me."

"And if the regent decides you should pay with your life?"

"That's absurd!" Selena screamed.

She looked back at Caleb and froze. He'd gone completely still. No more crying, no more struggling. He was just staring at her, his expression blank.

It scared her. She let go and stumbled back, then pointed a shaking finger at him.

"Is he Tristan's illegitimate child?" She caught herself and rounded on me. "Wait. How do you even know Tristan is the regent?"

"I have nothing to say to you."

I pulled out a salve and gently worked it into the marks on Caleb's neck.

The comments rolled fast across my vision.

[Isn't Caleb supposed to be the female lead's actual brother? How is he suddenly their secret kid? This adaptation is completely out of control.]

[There's no way they have an illegitimate child together. The male lead has too much integrity for that. She's just guessing. And if he finds out she tried to kill a toddler, he's going to make sure she answers for it.]

Caleb wasn't Tristan's child, of course.

But I hadn't lied.

In my fifty-sixth life, Selena had lured me away and killed Caleb while I was gone. It was the first time she'd died before I did. When her body was found, it had already been so badly tortured it was barely recognizable.

But there were still traces of distinct torture devices on her.

I knew every single one of them, because I'd had all of those same instruments used on me before.

They were part of Tristan's personal collection.

"You're lying!"

Selena's voice was firm, but her eyes were fixed on Caleb and didn't move.

"Tristan would never touch someone like you. I'm the prime minister's eldest daughter. I'm the only one worthy of him. He loves me!"

I laughed quietly.

"If he loves you so much, why did he go out of his way to avoid you and end up alone, badly wounded by assassins?"

And if he hadn't been wounded, I never would have been pulled into this endless, brutal cycle. Regressing over and over with hope, and being killed every single time.

"Natalie, why did you let Selena think I'm Tristan's child? Now she won't take her eyes off us. How are we supposed to find a way out?"

I ran my fingers gently over the marks on his neck.

My sweet, foolish little brother. There was no way out.

[I genuinely can't follow what the female lead is doing anymore. Why use a lie that obvious? It's going to fall apart the second anyone looks at it.]

[Focus! Your job right now is to wake up the male lead, not get tangled up with the second female lead. What is this script even doing?]

"Dr. Carter has arrived!"

Selena's face went from red-hot fury to delight in an instant. She grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the carriage.

"You're coming with me. When Tristan wakes up, I'm going to make him call out every lie you've told, and then I'm going to have him kill you and that little brat both."

Simon Carter pulled the golden needles from Tristan's head one by one. My palms were slick with sweat.

Tristan's eyes opened slowly. Selena threw herself down at the side of his bed.

"Tristan, you're finally awake! This woman was trying to hurt you! I begged her over and over to wake you up and she refused. Then the moment the physician pulled out her needles, you woke up. She has to be behind this!"

Tristan looked at me without any expression on his face, then turned to the physician.

Simon took the used herbs from Adam, brought them to his nose, and took his time going through them.

"Your Highness, there is nothing wrong with this young woman's prescription. As for the acupuncture, while it does induce sleep, it's actually a sound method for helping the body recover quickly. Without the acupuncture, you likely wouldn't have survived the journey."

Selena's eyes went wide.

"Why would she do something that kind?" She grabbed Tristan's arm. "Don't let her fool you. Just a moment ago, she was claiming that child is your illegitimate son. She's trying to pass the child off as royal blood. I think she wants to control you and put that boy in line for your title."

I kept patting Caleb's hand and said nothing.

The comments rolled past.

[The second female lead has quite an imagination. Sure, the female lead knows medicine, but controlling the male lead? Does she think the royal physicians are just decoration?]

[She's trying to destroy the female lead's reputation completely. That's how evil she is.]

Tristan looked at Caleb and chuckled.

"You're saying he's my son? Now that's interesting."

Caleb, who was usually so quiet and calm, balled up his tiny fists and swung them at Tristan with his little teeth clenched tight. His thoughts had gone completely silent.

Tristan watched him with obvious amusement, then turned to look at Selena, and his eyes went cold.

"Adam. How have you been looking after Ms. Lloyd? Her hands are frostbitten. She saved my life."

He turned back to me with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Ms. Lloyd, my carriage is much more comfortable. I have the finest charcoal burning inside. Would you ride with me?"

"Tristan, you can't share a carriage with a servant girl!"

He frowned slightly.

"Adam, it's not proper for Ms. Miller to ride with me. See her back to her own carriage. She's not to enter mine without my direct order."

If looks could kill, Selena's glare would have cut through me like a blade.

Tristan's insincere smile brought back painful memories from the ninety-nine lifetimes when I had been tortured and killed by the two of them.

I forced myself to swallow the rising nausea in my stomach and climbed into Tristan's carriage.

When Simon wasn't watching, I slipped my own powder into Tristan's medicine.

He drifted back to sleep. I reached out with trembling fingers and pressed them to his pulse.

I think I'd finally figured out how to stay alive.